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Migration of Health Workers in Kenya: the Impact on Health Service Delivery

This study was conducted to identify determinants, benchmarks and indicators of the costs and benefits and distributional impact of the migration of human resources for health on health services in Kenya and to make policy proposals for intervention. [from abstract]

Health Workforce and International Migration: Can New Zealand Compete?

This paper examines health workforce and migration policies in New Zealand, with a special focus on the international recruitment of doctors and nurses. [from abstract]

Forecasting the Global Shortage of Physicians: an Economic- and Needs-Based Approach

Using the most updated information on the supply of physicians over a 20-year period, this paper projects the size of the future global need for, demand for and supply of physicians to year 2015, the target date for the Millennium Development Goals. [adapted from abstract]

Yielding Very Positive Results: Improving Decentralized HIV Services in Costa Rica

Most Central American hospitals that provide decentralized HIV services struggle with issues such as weak infection prevention practices, poor nutritional care and persistent discriminatory practices. The Capacity Project is helping national HIV programs in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama to improve performance and supervision systems that will help address these issues. [from author]

Understanding and Measuring AIDS-Related Stigma in Health Care Settings: a Developing Country Perspective

This paper reports on AIDS-related stigma baseline findings from a study to evaluate the impact of a stigma-reduction intervention in three large hospitals in New Delhi, India. The study highlights issues particular to the health care sector in limited-resource settings. [from abstract]

Global Knowledge/Local Bodies: Family Planning Service Providers’ Interpretations of Contraceptive Knowledge

This paper examines Tanzanian service providers’ perceptions of contraceptives to shed light on questions of local level dissemination of population knowledge and shaping of identities. The findings suggest that the family planning program serves in a process of differentiation between two groups of local women: the service providers and their clients. [adapted from abstract]

Healthcare Workers' Attitudes Towards Working During Pandemic Influenza: a Multi-Method Study

Healthcare workers (HCWs) will be key players in any response to pandemic influenza, and will be in the front line of exposure to infection. This study is designed to determine the range of factors associated with their responses to the prospect of working through pandemic influenza. The findings will be used to estimate of the likely proportion of HCWs affected by each factor, and how likely it is that they would be willing and/or able to continue to work during an influenza pandemic. [adapted from abstract]

Gender Biases and Discrimination: a Review of Health Care Interpersonal Interactions

This paper maps the context of how gender shapes provider-client interaction and the impact of these interactions; provides a detailed breakdown of the nature of provider-patient interactions and how gender impacts on these interactions from the perspective of patients and providers; and reviews gender-specific policies and program interventions within the health system for improving the interpersonal dimension of health care and hence quality of care. [adapted from executive summary]

From Research to National Expansion: 20 Years’ Experience of Community-Based Management of Childhood Pneumonia in Nepal

This paper describes Nepal’s efforts, starting from the mid-1980s, to develop and implement community-based management of pneumonia. [from abstract]

AWARENESS Project Design, Implementation and Evaluation of a Distance Learning Course for Training in the Standard Days Method

This report summarizes key results of the evaluation of a distance learning course in the Standard Days Method. This course responds to a growing demand for low-cost options to training for family planning service providers. This option was considered as a potentially useful alternative to traditional class-room training, which can be both costly and time-consuming. [adapted from abstract]

Cost Effectiveness of Standard Days Method Refresher Trainings Using the Knowledge Improvement Tool in Guatemala

The Knowledge Improvement Tool (KIT) was created to allow family planning supervisors to quickly identify gaps in knowledge of Standard Days Method (SDM) providers, allowing them to provide targeted, effective support during routine supervisory visits. This study was designed to compare the effectiveness and the cost benefit of KIT to other methods of reinforcing SDM provider knowledge. [adapted from author]

Tuberculosis Suspicion and Knowledge Among Private and Public General Practitioners: Questionnaire Based Study in Oman

Early detection of smear positive tuberculosis (TB) cases by smear microscopy requires a high level of suspicion of TB among primary care physicians. The objective of this study is to measure TB suspicion and knowledge among private and public sector general practitioners using clinical vignette-based survey and structured questionnaire. [from abstract]

Improving Retention and Performance in Civil Society in Uganda

This article describes the experience of the Family Life Education Programme, a reproductive health program that provides community-based health services through 40 clinics in five districts of Uganda, in improving retention and performance by using the Human Resource Management Rapid Assessment Tool. [adapted from abstract]

Human Resource Leadership: the Key to Improved Results in Health

Despite rising attention to the acute shortage of health care workers, solutions to the human resource crisis are difficult to achieve, especially in the poorest countries. Although we are aware of the issues and have developed HR strategies, the problem is that some old systems of leading and managing human resources for health do not work in today's context. In these cases and others, a more appropriate mode of leadership, linked to reforming management systems and committed to moving beyond planning to implementation, is essential to the solution. [from abstract]

Has the Navrongo Project in Northern Ghana Been Successful in Altering Fertility Preferences?

This document evaluates the expected change in the reproductive preferences of women due to the presence of volunteers and community health workers providing health service delivery in the communities through the Community Health and Family Planning project. In the communities where there is intervention, women seem to show that their fertility preferences are generally shifting towards small family sizes although the fertility levels are still high. [adapted from author]

Monitoring the Performance of a Reproductive Health Franchise in Nepal

This study examines the experience of the Sewa nurse and paramedic franchise in Nepal and assesses whether there were changes in the perceived quality of services approximately one year after the formation of the network. This study also examines the extent to which there was an increase in the use of reproductive health services during this period. [from introduction]

Effectiveness of a Home Care Program for Supporting Caregivers of Persons with Dementia in Developing Countries: A Randomised Controlled Trial from Goa, India

This study was implemented to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a home based intervention in reducing caregiver burden, promoting caregiver mental health and reducing behavioural problems in elderly persons with dementia. [from abstract]

Evaluating the Successful Implementation of Evidence Into Practice Using the PARiHS Framework: Theoretical and Practical Challenges

The PARiHS framework (Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services) has proved to be a useful practical and conceptual heuristic for many researchers and practitioners in framing their research or knowledge translation endeavors. However, as a conceptual framework it still remains untested and therefore its contribution to the overall development and testing of theory in the field of implementation science is largely unquantified.

This paper provides an integrated summary of the conceptual and theoretical thinking thus far regarding PARiHS. It introduces a typology used to distinguish between the terms conceptual framework, theory and model

Mapping the Human Resources Management Processes in Uganda

The purpose of this study was to identify and recommend strategies for tackling the underlying issues in the human resources for health (HRH) management process in Uganda with an eye towards addressing the HRH crisis. [from executive summary]

The Cost of Antiretroviral Therapy in Haiti

This study details the costs and personnel requirements for the provision of antiretroviral therapy (ART) to patients with AIDS in Haiti. [from abstract]

Confidentiality or Continuity? Family Caregivers’ Experiences with Care for HIV/AIDS

The overall objective of this study was to analyse the challenges which family caregivers encountered in home-based care when they tried to access medical treatment for home-based AIDS patients in the context of confidentiality and limited medical care. [from abstract]

Can Working with the Private For-Profit Sector Improve Utilization of Quality Health Services by the Poor?: A Systematic Review of the Literature

This paper is a systematic literature review on the effectiveness of working with private for-profit providers to reach the poor. [adapted from abstract]

World Health Statistics 2008

World Health Statistics 2008 includes 2008 health statistics for WHO’s 193 Member States. This fourth edition includes 10 highlights in health statistics, as well as an expanded set of over 70 key health indicators. It includes, for the first time, trend data where the statistics are available and of acceptable quality. [adapted from publisher]

Workforce Participation Among International Medical Graduates in the National Health Service of England: a Retrospective Longitudinal Study

Balancing medical workforce supply with demand requires good information about factors affecting retention. Overseas qualified doctors comprise 30% of the National Health Service workforce in England yet little is known about the impact of country of qualification on length of stay. We aimed to address this need. [from abstract]

Health Human Resources Planning

Planning the supply of and demand for human resources for health is a significant challenge for most countries. Workforce shortages, underemployment and unemployment, skill-mix imbalances and geographical maldistribution are among some of the critical challenges at national level and within organizations Health human resources planning is essential for countries and systems to ensure the presence of workforces capable of meeting the needs of populations. [from author]

Interprofessional Education in Rural Practice: How, When and Where?

Interprofessional education (IPE) has been suggested as an answer to improving the effectiveness of health professional teamwork, which in turn is regarded as a key strategy for improving the delivery and outcomes of increasingly complex healthcare approaches. There is a strong theoretical base to support the implementation of IPE for all health professionals, and in response many training programs now do this. This article presents some theory-based but practical advice for how to develop effective IPE activities. [from abstract]

Supportive Supervision to Sustain Health Worker Capacity in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and North Sumatera

This brief describes PATH’s project to implement supportive supervision techniques to improve health worker training in Indonesia.

Human Resources for Health Challenges of Public Health System Reform in Georgia

The aim of this study was to assess adequacy of HR of local public health agencies to meet the needs emerging from health care reforms in Georgia. [from abstract]

Review of the Utilization of HEEPF: Competitive Projects for Educational Enhancement in the Egyptian Medical Sector

The aim of this paper is to review the share of the medical sector in the higher education enhancement project fund (HEEPF), its outcomes, sustainability, and to provide recommendations for keeping the momentum of reform pursuit in the future. [from abstract]

Human Resources for Health Assessment: Data Collection Training

This material contains a suggested workshop design for use by individuals and organizations planning human resources for health (HRH) assessments. These materials can also be used to train supervisors and data collectors to conduct an HRH assessment. [from author]